Criminal Code Amendment (National Sport Integrity Offences) Bill 2026
Ms JORDAN-BAIRD (Gorton) (16:00): I rise to speak in support of the Criminal Code Amendment (National Sport Integrity Offences) Bill 2026. Sport is a huge part of my life. Growing up, I played netball, volleyball, basketball and hockey.
I loved the athletics carnivals, as you can imagine, as the tallest girl in the year and, at one point, the tallest girl in the school. I loved high jump and long jump. Some of my best memories came from being part of a team, working towards a goal and sharing both the wins and the losses with the people around me.
More recently I played footy for both the West Footscray Roosters and the Western Spurs. I know the feeling well of being part of a team—handballing the ball to your mates, scoring a goal, supporting one another whatever the challenge. It is like you're part of something bigger than yourself, experiencing the joy, triumphs and failures together as one.
Today I go for a jog in the mornings, often on Saturday mornings with our local Aintree parkrun community—and, I admit, slightly less often with our local Brimbank parkrun, but only because of the hill aptly named 'Big Hill' at Brimbank Park. Park runs do something truly amazing for local communities. I'm not the only one in this place who loves their local parkrun; I know my friend the member for Fenner is amongst this group.
Like me, he is a loud advocate for initiatives like parkrun and the benefits they provide in the wider community. It's a free, noncompetitive and inclusive environment where participants can walk, jog, run or spectate, addressing both a health problem and financial challenges. It makes healthier choices easier, providing a built-in community to join at your own fitness level or running pace.
It helps to combat the loneliness epidemic as well, acting as a way of building social connections and trust amongst neighbours. There's also the helper's high that one can get through volunteering, helping to organise an event and, first thing on the weekend, doing something altruistic. I give a special shout-out to Tan, Mark, Janelle, Jono, Katie and all our fantastic regulars at Aintree parkrun, as well as Amanda at Brimbank parkrun, and all the volunteers for their time and enthusiasm week in, week out.
You are providing such an important service to our community. Sport is so important to a healthy, thriving and successful community. Every weekend, thousands of locals head to netball courts, volleyball competitions, dance studios, football grounds and community sporting clubs right across our electorate.
They do it because sport brings people together. It builds confidence, creates lifelong friendships and, most importantly, teaches teamwork. When we are using sport to foster principles of fair play, respect and teamwork in our community and in our kids, it only makes sense that people expect sport to be fair.
Whether it's a young netballer taking to the court, a footy team competing in a local league or a gymnast preparing for a competition, participants deserve to know that talent, hard work and commitment determine the outcome—not corruption, not manipulation, not match-fixing. This bill sends a clear message: there is no place for those who seek to undermine the integrity of Australian sport.
That's why integrity matters. When a child takes to the netball court or a teenager runs onto the footy field, they should know that the game they are playing is fair. They should know that the result comes down to the effort of the players, not who's paid who, who has insider info or who has manipulated the outcome.
That principle applies at every level of sport, from the local sporting clubs to our biggest professional competitors. That is why we need laws that protect the integrity of Australian sport, and that's what this bill does. This bill creates seven new Commonwealth offences targeting match-fixing, betting related corruption and the misuse of inside information connected to sporting events.
This bill is addressing the broader issue, instead of just targeting the person who fixes the match. Each of these offences are directed at the people who organise match-fixing, who encourage it, who profit from it and who help cover it up. The first offence targets the corruption of a sporting event itself.
Put simply, it will mean you can't deliberately manipulate what happens in a sporting contest in order to get something you are not otherwise entitled to. Say a tennis player deliberately loses a set because someone has promised to pay them for doing so. That's the kind of conduct this offence is designed to capture.
When someone deliberately fixes a sporting contest, they are not just breaking the rules of the game. They are undermining the confidence that fans, athletes, sponsors and the wider community place in that competition. The second offence targets the people who encourage someone else to corrupt a sporting event.
This recognises that it's not always the people who are on the field, who touch a ball, that are participating in this kind of behaviour. It's the ones on the side offering money, applying pressure, creating the incentive for corruption in the first place. The third offence deals with the other side of that transaction, creating an offence for those obtaining a benefit.
The fourth offence is about what happens to those who try to cover up the corruption, making it an offence to alter, destroy or conceal information about the corruption of the sporting event. The fifth offence targets the use and communication of information about corrupt conduct, and the sixth offence deals with the possession of information about corrupt conduct where that information is possessed for the purpose of improperly using or communicating it.
Finally, the seventh offence deals with inside information, like a player knowing that in an upcoming match they are going to play in attack instead of defence. Telling someone who then uses that information to place a bet might not have been an agreement to fix the match, but it acts as a gateway to more serious forms of match fixing. Each of these new offences are important because modern sports corruption doesn't necessarily always look like one athlete taking a bribe.
It involves a network of people passing information between them, sometimes across borders. That is why these offences are designed to apply nationally and, in certain circumstances, to conduct occurring outside Australia. Sport is increasingly international.
The people seeking to corrupt it can be too. Our laws need to reflect that reality. As our Attorney-General, who's in the chamber with us today, has said, competition manipulation or match fixing is not a victimless crime.
It can destroy careers. It can damage clubs and competitions. Match fixing works to undermine the credibility of our sporting competition.
It defrauds the public who rightly expect better, and it exposes athletes to coercion and exploitation. It's one piece in a larger problem. It acts as a foothold for transnational crime syndicates to launder money, manipulate outcomes and target vulnerable participants in our domestic sporting codes.
This legislation, Deputy Speaker, will help protect athletes, officials, volunteers, and sporting leagues and organisations from criminal conduct that threatens the integrity of competition. For communities like mine, that really matters because community sport is about more than winning. It's about respect.
It's about fairness. It's about ensuring that every player who steps onto a court, field or stage knows they are competing on a level playing field. The Albanese government is taking action to protect these values and strengthen Australia's ability to combat match fixing and sports corruption.
The bill also supports Australia's efforts to ratify the Macolin Convention, the international treaty aimed at preventing and combating the manipulation of sports competitions. But it trickles down to local sports as well. My electorate of Gorton is home to an incredible sporting culture.
From the Taylors Lakes Lionesses to the Aintree Giants and so many other local clubs, sport brings our community together. These clubs are about so much more than the game itself. There are places where friendships are formed, confidence is built and young people learn skills and valuable life lessons.
They are powered by volunteers who give up their evenings and weekends to coach teams, run canteens, organise fundraisers, and support and safeguard the next generation. I'm proud to have a collection of merch from our local sporting clubs, like beanies from the Burnside Bears, Green Gully Soccer Club, George Cross football club, Balmoral Football Club, Aintree Giants, Taylors Lakes Lions, Keilor Blues and so many other clubs and some of my favourite jumpers, scarves and tops as well.
While they might look just like simple pieces of merch, to me, they represent something so much more. Every scarf tells a story. Every beanie represents a community filled with pride.
They remind me of the people behind these clubs—the volunteers, the parents, the coaches and the players who give their time to create opportunities for others. They are also a reminder of why I am here. I'm here to be a true representative of the people of Melbourne's western suburbs, to strengthen communities and to help ensure everyone gets a fair go, on and off the field.
That idea of fairness sits at the heart of this bill. I've spent so much time with so many of our local sports clubs in the west, but I'll use this opportunity to talk about some of my recent visits, like to the St Albans Caroline Springs Netball Association, who I recently spent the evening with and saw how much energy, teamwork and talent they bring to the court.
This is a megaleague with 157 teams with packed courts from 5 pm to 10 pm. At the St Mary's Syro-Malabar parish in Ravenhall the new court was built by young people who saw a need in our local community and decided to do something about it. It was fantastic to join them at the opening of their new volleyball court.
It was wonderful to be with the Taylors Lakes Lionesses as they kicked off the start of their season earlier this year. These fantastic women played that day at the club's home ground, but unfortunately they don't always, because of poor lighting and scheduling conflicts. That's why we're investing $209,000 for lighting upgrades at Lionheart Reserve.
We're also investing in lighting upgrades at Caroline Springs rec reserve and Keilor rec reserve as well. These are such important investments which prioritise the needs and safety of our community and will get more people involved in sports. Another reason I love visiting our local sports clubs is that I believe it's so important to encourage women across the community to get involved in local sporting clubs.
Girls are taught to be perfect while boys are taught to be strong. But that's not what we should always be aspiring towards. I love sport because it gives kids confidence in themselves and teaches them to work together and they learn how to lead, how to make decisions and how to live with the consequences and move on.
For women and girls, who are often taught not to trust our own bodies, sport teaches us to listen to our bodies and to trust them, to learn our own strengths, weaknesses and limits, to stay connected to our bodies and to look after them as well. Sport teaches us how to be accountable and how to hold others to account in a positive way and how to have each other's backs.
Growing up, it was through sport I learned the importance of showing up, working hard and supporting others. I learned resilience when things did not go to plan, and I learned that success means more when it is earned. Those experiences shaped who I am today and they are a big part of why I value fairness so incredibly deeply.
When I look at the young people participating in sport across Gorton today, I see those same lessons being taught every single day. I see young people building confidence, learning respect, developing leadership skills and discovering what it means to be part of something bigger than themselves. That is why protecting the integrity of sport is so incredibly important.
Everyone who steps onto a court, field or stage deserves to know that the competition is fair and that effort, commitment and talent are what will determine the outcome. That simple principle should be protected in our own laws. That is what this bill does.
I commend this bill to the House.